


Sweet Espressions

by astudyinsolitude (taylormicky)



Series: Stucky Drabbles & Tumblr Prompts [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Coffeeshop AU, College AU, Drabbles, M/M, quick fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2015-10-08
Packaged: 2018-04-25 11:19:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4958560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taylormicky/pseuds/astudyinsolitude
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The coffee shop and college AU that nobody asked for. Bucky’s POV.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweet Espressions

**Author's Note:**

> I got attacked by a plot bunny; I had no choice but to write. Unbeta-ed, un-edited, there may be spelling errors.
> 
> A quick, fun fic originally posted on [tumblr](http://astudyinsolitude.tumblr.com) at 5 am because I couldn't help but write it. Based loosely off my own school; there's an actual coffeeshop called "Sweet Espressions" that I arbitrarily based this story in. Some swearing.

Seriously, when did the library suddenly become the place to hang out and catch up with friends?

This was the question I was pondering as I walked towards the square in search of a cute bookstore or coffeeshop to hole up in and study. But, since the library had the only Starbucks in town, it was now the place to find group ‘study’ sessions where more gossip was shared than homework and people who _actually had exams_ couldn’t fucking focus.

Which led to my search for a new place to study. I never really was a big coffee drinker but in a tiny little town in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, coffeeshops were the only other place where I could actually stay tucked in a corner studying and nobody would bother me. (Damn you Starbucks). Being 2 PM on a Friday meant the place should basically be deserted, everyone off preparing for a night of fun and parties or whatever the hell people did when they didn’t have to worry about fucking finance tests or anything.

Walking into the store, I was proven thankfully right - the only other poor soul in the place was the cute worker in the back struggling to maneuver some boxes onto the shelves. He glanced up awkwardly at the door’s chime, juggling the boxes with a slightly strangled “Be there in a sec!” as the stack precariously shifted.

I chuckled a bit to myself; I’d only ever seen him a few times since I started coming here in the afternoons, but he always had a smile for the customers and it really didn’t hurt to be so attractive, either.

Trying not to look like one of those impatient assholes that were the bane of the service industry, my eyes caught on a chalkboard sign propped up haphazardly next to the muffin basket. A chunky, lopsided script scrawled across the board: “Today your barista is: 1) hella fucking gay, 2) desperately single. For your drink today I recommend: you give me your number.”

Wow, okay then, friendly cute barista. Ain’t gonna be no hardship there.

Said barista navigated his way over to the register, wiping a sleeve over his brow and pushing his glasses absentmindedly upwards as he grinned sheepishly over at me. “Sorry about the wait! Welcome to Sweet Espressions, what can I do for you today?”

“Hey no worries man, I’m in no rush.” I waved a hand dismissively - you gotta do what you gotta do when running a shop like this. “I was just admiring your sign here, anyway. I’ll go ahead and take a large iced coffee.”

“Oh, thanks, it’s nothing much.” The barista gave a shy smile which, really, didn’t quite make sense with the chalkboard? Whatever, a quirky attractive barista, then. “One iced coffee, large, and your total is gonna be $2.35.” As he took my credit card, he twirled it through his fingers with a flourish before sliding it through and handing it back with the receipt and a pen. “If you could just sign here please, and your drink’ll be right up!”

I couldn’t help but grin a bit as he moved among the various machines, humming absentmindedly as he worked. Signing the receipt, I thought ‘what the hell’ and put my number at the bottom before dropping my bag in my usual spot in the back corner and returning for the now-completed drink. Taking a sip of the bitter brew, I unloaded my various notebooks and writing utensils to settle in for a good study session.

In the midst of bond valuation and payments-per-year calculations, I stole glances at the barista as he ambled around the shop doing a general straightening up - organizing the shelves in the back that were giving him trouble when I first walked in, tucking all the chairs into the tables so customers wouldn’t trip. It was during one of these glances, after throwing down my pencil in frustration when the numbers simply wouldn’t add up, that I watched as the barista nearly tripped while he was cleaning the front tables.

He was staring at the chalkboard sign with a look of surprised horror on his face, and a soft “oh, shit” escaped his lips as he turned bright red and looked over at me.

“Wait, this wasn’t actually my sign, I thought you were talking about something else!” He look so adorably embarrassed as he frantically scrubbed over the board, blush painting everything from the tips of his ears down to the collar of his t-shirt. “I’m so sorry!”

By this point I was chuckling so hard I had to stop and breathe for a moment before giving him a wink and a cheeky grin. “Bummer, I only give my number out to the cute guys.”

If anything, the barista looked even more flushed at that. “Oh, I was wondering why that was there.” He nervously rubbed at his neck, looking all doe-eyed and still so embarrassed that I couldn’t help chuckling again.

“Well, now you gotta show me what you thought I was talking about, then.” I gave him an encouraging smile, because honestly nobody liked getting embarrassed by a customer.

The barista quickly grabbed the chalk from next to the register and began to write, a small furrow appearing between his brows as he concentrated. A few minutes later, shyness gone, he walked over to my table and held out the sign. “This is what I thought was on there.”

I gaped at the sign as I took it from him, amazed. In the left corner was a flowing script stating the barista’s name (Steve) and recommended drink order (blended ice latte with whip), but besides the name that section was unimportant. No, what was amazing was the line sketch of the coffeeshop that took over the bottom corner of the board, even twining around a few of the letters as a background. In only the few minutes Steve had been drawing, he had effortlessly captured the quaint tables and register in the front of the shop with just a simple piece of chalk.

I flicked my gaze up to Steve’s in surprise. “Nothing much? Dude, this is fucking amazing!”

He shrugged his shoulders in response and gave a self-deprecating smile. “Give me a half hour and some graphite I could’ve done the whole shop. It’s nothing, really.”

I gave the sign back to him reluctantly. “Well, Steve, I think it’s still amazing. I’m Bucky, by the way.”

“I appreciate that, Bucky. And I’m, well,” he gestured to the sign here, “my name’s Steve, obviously. And sorry, I’ll let you get back to your studies, Buck.”

I gave him another wink as he backed up towards the front of the store again. “Not a problem, I definitely needed the break. I’d be excited to see that sketch again if you ever decided to finish it.”

If I couldn’t help grinning a bit the rest of the afternoon as I studied, well, nobody needed to be the wiser.

And if I tucked into my notebook an extra page that had silently appeared on the table as I was packing to leave, well, nobody needed to know that either. The page, with its hard lines and soft shading, had a small note written on the back:

 _Buck - thanks for the eventful afternoon. Here’s my number, in case you’re still interested._  
_Best, Steve_

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this little drabble! Comments, thoughts, and suggestions are always welcome :)


End file.
